New one for me... Typical trip across the
open desert to Phoenix, a route I've taken many times.
Severe clear weather, Fat dumb and happy cruising along on
autopilot and I glance down at the iPad to see what kind of
traffic is out there that I can't see with the eyeballs.
Just a glance, mind you - not minutes of heads down. When I
look up, I see what appears at first to be a cloud of black
smoke off in the distance. It quickly turns into a massive
swarm of bees... Nope, it's birds coming right at me, co
altitude, 12:00, and at 190 knots this distance is closing
rapidly. I rolled into 90 degrees of bank and pulled hard,
narrowly missing the whole mess. It turned out to be several
hundred seagulls flying in a tightly packed, 100 foot
diameter ball. The elapsed time between seeing the faint
"smoke" to pulling g's was about 2 seconds.
...

The engine for our -4 fastback is assembled
and ready to mount. The baffles will need a little TLC
before they go back on. We went with the 8.5:1 pistons and
the larger wrist pins to boost the power to 160hp. So now we
will have a completely restored 91' RV-4 with a zero time
field overhauled engine. Everything inside is new except for
the crank and rods.

So a few weeks back I took the plunge and
bought a partially completed RV-10 empennage kit from a fine
member of VAF (thanks, UnPossible!)

This all was a bit ahead of my schedule (I didn't expect to
be starting for at least 8 more months), but the deal too
good to pass up, IMHO. So now, I have a partial kit, some
tools (also courtesy of VAF Classifieds) on the way, and a
big project (workshop construction) looking me in the face.

After 1 Year the empennage of my RV-3 is
finished. Being a first builder it took probably a little
bit longer (1200 hr). I was curious wether the
fairings can be attached without seeing the pop rivets.
With a little bit of grinding they are nearly invisible. I
used the Stewart Systems EKO Poly Primer , ZC green, for the
HS ,VS and the rudder. For the Elevators I used the EKO Poxy
Primer. Both primers can be reduced with distilled water.
It´s nice to work without solvents. You simply clean the
spray-gun with warm water.

After some rearrangements in the shop I will start the SB
wings in April.

I finally got to see the plane with its
wings on!....for a day. With help from Brian and Brandi we
trimmed the flaps and wing root fairings as needed in less
then a day! Brian was a great help and I'm not sure I could
have gotten the job done before sundown without him.

After a few days away, Aurora Australis
returns home with her new tiger stripe livery. It
looks better than I thought it would, especially in the sun!
<g>

Manifold Pressure Mystery ...Tango Mike

Manifold Pressure Mystery:

The airplane: RV-4 with VM-1000 and dual Electroair
ignitions (left gold Gen 1 unit with the MP sensor mounted
on the EIS beside the coil packs, and right purple Gen 2
unit with a rev 1 MP sensor mounted separately).

Symptoms:

1) VM-1000 MP reads barometric pressure when the engine
isn’t running.
2) After start, the MP advances to mid to high 20s with
about 900 rpm.
3) Left advance reads 17 degrees
4) Right advance reads 28 degrees
5) Neither advance reading changes when the manifold advance
is turned off.
6) During runup, the VM-1000 MP and the advance on each side
remain the same as when the rpm is below 1000.

Discussion:

1) It appears to me that the VM-1000 and both Electroair
EISs are operating normally.
2) It’s important to note that the Gen 1 units have a
different RPM advance curve than the Gen 2 units. I don’t
have my notes with me at the house this evening, but I think
the Gen 1 units are programmed to 18 degrees once RPM is
above 800, and the Gen 2 units are programmed to 25 degrees.
(I also think the Gen 1 units added a degree or two of
advance for every 100 RPM above 1000, but that’s not germane
to this problem.)
3) With MP advance turned on and working on both sides, the
advance readings at low taxi manifold pressures should be
high. They’re not, and they remain at the fixed advance
settings based on RPM, close to the programmed, fixed
advance of 18 degrees on the left and 25 on the right.
4) Turning off the manifold pressure advance causes no
change in advance readings.
5) If the VM-1000 were reading normally, I’d troubleshoot
the manifold pressure ignition advance system.
6) If the manifold pressure ignition advance system were
working properly, I’d investigate the VM-1000. (It’s
important to note that last year I followed forum member
Reggie’s procedures for cleaning the MPT and solved a
problem with erroneous MP readings. That and the fact that
the MP reads atmospheric pressure in static conditions
appears to eliminate the VM-1000 as a suspect in this
mystery.)
7) I’ve removed the hose from the fitting on the engine and
gently applied pressure and vacuum, both of which resulted
in about .2” increase and decrease, respectively.

What’s next?

Investigate the possibility that no MP is being supplied
through the fitting on the #3 cylinder to the VM-1000 MPT
and the two MP sensors?

Mark B was kind enough to fly the RV12 to
Maine on good day. Mark had a great day to fly, it was
cool, low winds, and great visibility. A few pics of Mark
arriving to KBST before tucking her in for the night in the
Hanger.
...

Update - I installed the new starter relay -
same problem.. So, now I have a new battery and new starter
relay and new starter solenoid. Today, I sent my starter
back to SkyTec. (It is the 149-12LSX model that they don't
make any more, so I'm guessing I'm going to end up with
something else)

Here's another piece of information that I discovered while
changing the starter solenoid... I had the diode installed
BETWEEN the S and I terminal and had a wire from the I
terminal going straight to ground.

I've been flying for 11 years now and that didn't seem to be
a problem, but as I look at the wiring diagrams, it
obviously isn't correct. I really don't know how this didn't
trip a fuse because it should be a short from the start
switch. There must be some resistance out to that I
terminal.

I changed the diode to go from S to ground and I is
disconnected. Same symptom though.. still doesn't start.

EDIT: I also found this post
here which leads me
to believe that maybe the inside connection to the I
terminal shorted out long ago so maybe it was still more or
less working the same way since there was a path to ground
through the diode from the S terminal. Interesting that
someone else had their starter relay wired the same way as I
did.

I'm at the stage of preparing the elevator
pitch trim harness. The instructions have you apply silicone
to one end of the harness. I have no experience with this
type of work and I'm wondering what type of silicone to
use......which makes me wonder if there is more than one
type of silicone. What have you other 14 builders been using
here. Thanks.

I have a Lycoming with about 50 hours on it
that is behaving very badly.
It is cyclical roughness, happening every few minutes. It
begins with roughness, followed by lower RPM's, higher EGT's
(all) and a feeling as if it is self leaning! Fuel flow goes
down by 2-4 GPH too (11+ down to 7 or 8 and EGT's rising to
Peak). A few seconds (20-30) and it cures itself. Then in a
few moments, it all begins again.

Isolating the mag does not improve or make it run worse or
better. Same for the one Lightspeed II/Hall effect I am
running. Feels like the engine is about to give up, then it
takes a breath and goes on normally for a few minutes. It
will run hard and even overspin the CATO prop (it's
underpitched right now), then runs very poorly... like I
need to find a place to land. Goes from 2750 down to 2450,
and then, slowly, back up again. Scary!

Because if "feels" like a fuel issue, I traced everything in
the (new) AFP 150 for loose fittings or fouled filters....
no joy. Cleaned everything and tightened fuel fittings and
no change in the way it runs. Takes a few minutes on the way
to altitude before it starts in, then never corrects. Same
issues regardless of altitude or RPM. Could the mag be
working intermittently? Hall Effect? If so, you would think
isolating them would make it quit altogether, but it doesn't
change anything except the EGT's go way up, and then I get
nervous and switch back to both.

I'm SN: 40579 started in April 2006 and am
hoping to wrap it up in under 10 years.

Seems life takes up more time than building for me
sometimes. 2 kids, 2 house remodels, laid off in 2009 then
started a business working for myself with some partners. I
work from home and you know how the saying goes I get to
choose which 12 hours a day I work
.

I've been wiring the panel now for 6 months. I think I'm
finally ready to pull some wires
Somewhat kidding but it seems the planning takes so long
when you redo everything 3 times or more and waffle on every
decision / deviation.

I am glad I did that. Turns out my fuel pressure gauge was
showing the wrong pressure, 40 psi static. I spent the
majority of Sunday trying to figure out what the deal was.

Turns out the pressure sensor I am using did not have a
specific diagram. It just said red = 12volts. Well the new
document on the website now states that it is not 12Volts
I will mess around with it next weekend to see if swapping
the power source fixes the problem.

I feel better now that I have compared the sensors to known
quantities and they had the correct reading (except fuel
pressure).

Sharkbait has landed at the Equator, about
6.5 flight hours from Grenada

Friday: Homestead (FL) to the British Virgin Islands (fueled
in the Turks and BVI)
Saturday: BVI to Grenada (fueled)
Sunday: Sightseeing in Grenada
Monday: Grenada to Guyana (fuel) then into
Macapá (Brazil):

Before cinching down the top forward skin, I
had to drill holes in the diagonal brace for the roll hoop,
so I decided to mount the roll hoop as well. It was a little
too wide to get the 7/32" clearance on both sides, so I
MacGuyver'd a press out of my workbench, a scissors jack and
some spare lumber. I tried bending it first with my full
body weight (200 lb.) and while it deflected noticeably, its
springback dimension hadn't changed by a mm.

Got the little clamp widgets done. They're made of a very
burly alloy...it took twice the pressure and twice the time
on the bandsaw to make the angle cuts, but the strength is
needed here.

Wore out two Unibits making the attach plates for the lower
cowl, but it's final mounted with all the Skybolt fasteners
set a half-turn deeper than flush. May have to adjust after
paint, and settling from vibration. I really didn't need the
floater receptacles, but I didn't have enough of the
standard ones. Clearances of exhaust, alternator, etc. are
all good. Though it's no substitute for removing the lower
cowling, I was very pleased with how much of the induction
system, fuel fittings and linkages you can inspect with only
the upper cowling removed.

I was going to start riveting the top skin, but I thought it
better to mull things over for another day to make sure I
haven't missed anything. But to make the inevitable "panel
dive" a little more comfortable, I ordered carpeting a
couple of days ago. No accidental back surgery via floor
stiffeners for me!
more pics

Well, I'm not anywhere near as far along as
Guilherme, but last night a friend from
EAA 80 came over and helped me get the bottom skin
riveted on the aft section, cleaco on the center section and
the forward skins... Lots more work to do but it's looking
more like "airplane parts" now!

Yesterday I flew my son and two of his
college classmates from Denver Centennial to Greeley in my
Mooney. On the return flight home I had quite a scare when
an RV suddenly appeared in my windscreen, seemingly out of
nowhere. We both had to take evasive action to avoid a
collision; I'm guessing we were less than 500 feet apart,
going opposite directions.

I was under VFR flight following with Denver Approach at the
time, as is my custom. I notified the controller and he said
he had no targets in my vicinity. My Mooney is equipped with
Honeywell TCAS that paints bogeys on the G1000 moving map,
and the RV didn't show up there, either. The way my TCAS
works, if your transponder is on and you're close enough to
me, it will see you.
...

....an iPhone email app that will
allow me to TAKE a
picture while replying
to an email (without having to go to the camera app)?
The native email client allows you to insert an existing
picture into a reply, but it won't let you take a
picture from within the reply (that I can find
documented). Looking for something similar to what you
can already do from within the native text app (screen grab
below)

Why do I ask?

Especially when I'm away from the house and
the sender doesn't use a smartphone. I send a lot of
handwritten 'note pics' using the native text app, but the
native iPhone email app doesn't allow this. Speech to
text dictation isn't 100% accurate. Often for me
handwriting is faster.

Something
sent like this, I suppose, is like a GPS in a Cub....a mix
of old and new. And I dig old fountain pens for some
strange reason - I have a cup with four or five here on my
desk that I rotate using. I'd love to own a used, huge
MB 146 or 149 pen someday, but that's about priority 10,000.
I'd rather spend the $$$ on avgas! ;^)

This is kind of a tongue-in-cheek corollary
thread to Lucas' highest time RV-10 thread.

I'm at 8 years 7 months on my project -- builder number
40631.
I placed my tailcone order back in Sep of 2006. Lot's of
reasons why it's taken this long and I'll admit at this
point I'm sick and tired of building, but the prize is near
(finally)!

For those of you who need to
'goof-off-for-a-short-time-at-work-on-Friday', my very good
friend Andrew "Sharkbait" Brandt is flying back to South
America via the 'Caribbean Islands' route. His trip starts
early Friday morning (20 March).
...

For those in vicinity of the Southeast US
you may be tracking the FFI Formation Clinic in North
Carolina in June. If you are unable to attend or want to
polish your skills in advance of the June clinic you can
attend the Dixie Formation Fly-In in Montgomery, AL the
weekend of 10-12 April.
...

All,
As I prepare for my first engine start, I have been reading
the archives via the search function. I have not come across
a post that specifically addresses the precautions you
should take. There is info throughout post but not a central
location. Maybe I did not use the search function correctly.

I would like to know how to prepare myself and how to
address the first engine start on the test plan.

I remember when I cracked open the wing kit
and thought to myself "Man, that's a lot of parts." That
seems pretty funny in retrospect.

But hey, I got all my fuselage parts organized and put away
tonight!

Wed Mar 18, 2015.
1149Z I had the pleasure of giving the husband of
one of my wife's friends his first ride in a 'small airplane'
yesterday - Mr. Kenny Foster pictured below post-flight.
About two minutes after taking off I gave him the aircraft, and
after sixty seconds or so of adjusting to it, he did just fine
at holding heading and altitude. We flew for 48 minutes,
including waypoints at his house, work, and as it turned out
later, over the exact spot at Lake Lewisville where some feral
hogs were recorded swimming (link).
A good morning flight before the forecast rains came. 81*F
yesterday.

I figured I would post a new pic of my panel
featuring my nexus 7 mounting location. I'm using a ram
mount. I did not want to drill any holes so I made a C
shaped clamp from wood that fits close around the side
frame. The clamp is actually attached with double sticky
tape on 3 sides. The Ram ball is then mounted to the clamp.
The Nexus is just double sticky taped to the other ram ball.
It worked really well.

Recent warm weather in northern Illinois has
opened up our grass strip. Having been snowed in for six
weeks, I have been feeling the urge to get some distance
from my shadow. Unfortunately, the apron and taxiways will
be soft and soggy for a couple of weeks. And lately my lower
back has been complaining about pushing the RV back into the
hanger. There have been times that the plane stayed in the
hanger because I didn’t want to wrestle with pushing it back
in after flying. Enter my new second-best-friend, Ronda
the Honda. A custom tow bar allows Ronda to push / pull
/ steer Wild Blue from hanger to runway, and back, avoiding
prop nicks from powering through soft gravel-mush, and
eliminating trips to the chiropractor’s office.
...

This afternoon I took two of my neighbors to
the Space Shuttle Landing Facility for a low approach (2nd
airplane was on the wing and not shown). The weather was
perfect and the tail cam video came out very nice. I only
flew enroute and the RV8A owner, Dane S. did the take off,
low approach and landing. So, I can not claim credit of the
good job.

We were initially cleared to 500'. After passing a semi on
the runway, we were cleared to 100'.
...

Mon Mar 16, 2015.
1143Z Congratulations to our daughter's SMU Mustangs
winning the American Athletic Conference - accomplished with
flare by beating last year's national champion (article).
Going to the NCAA tourney for the first time in two decades.
I do enjoy the March Madness!

Fri Mar 13, 2015.
1157Z I flew yesterday for the first time since
2/18, and man did it feel good! After a few minutes the
rust started to fall away, and Flash and I ended up
having a nice 30 minute walk around the local area. Felt
great to get off the surface - been too long. Wishing you and yours a happy, safe and RV-filled
weekend!

(from my ISP) Our regularly scheduled
maintenance window will be used to install critical patches
to servers on the network, in order to keep your data safe
and improve the reliability of your hosted environment.
Customers will experience intermittent service accessibility
during this window.

During preflight this morning I caught a
faint fuel smell when I opened the canopy, I re-adjusted the
seat backs and thought I could still smell a bit of gas.
There is a bit of a gap around the fuel selector cover and
with a flashlight I thought I could see a bit of moisture.
After I removed all the covers and started pumping fuel
through the lines I found fuel seeping out the outlet
connection of the fuel valve going forward to the fuel
filter and fact pump. After removing the fuel line there was
no visible crack, after a little bit of prodding I found it.

Took off yesterday for first flight. The
flight was 30 minutes long, climbed up over Paine Field. I
kept the power up due to the new engine breaking in. Doesn't
have the kick on take off like the rocket but I do like the
lower fuel burn. I downloaded the data log from the Skyveiw
and all the numbers looked good. This is a pretty handy
tool. I got the 30 min flight video clipped down
to about 8 min. Not very exciting but maybe that's a good
thing.
...

Dad's Tools ...continued

Dad's
TMO-3200003
was built in '93 or '94, and was purchased at the now
bankrupt Montgomery Ward in Waco, TX. I'm continuing
the intake of some of my late parent's possessions, and at
age 49 this will be my first riding mower. Gave it a
good pressure wash yesterday - today sometime I'm off to
Tractor Supply for some replacement fuel tubing, oil and an
in-line fuel filter (after putting tires on the daughter's
car). Some scratches on the mower's hood will most
likely polish out. The lights still work. It
needs a new seat, but I'll cross that bridge down the road.
Our yard might be a tad small for a 42" deck, but my Dad
hand-etched his driver's license number on the frame under
the seat, so by God I'm gonna mow with it for as long as I
can. I'll do the tight stuff with my push mower.

My transformation into Hank Hill is coming
along nicely (documentary).

Our family's RV-6 has been flying since
2002, and like this mower, I feel compelled to take care of
it indefinitely. I need to see how long I can keep it
running. Something about high quality, older equipment
still being useful really finds its way into my thinking
these days. The
thread Mike S started a couple weeks back on 'Dad's
Tools' should make you smile if you haven't seen it already.

You don't know how bad I've wanted to make a
post in this thread over the past couple months, Here It
Is!! (Kinda low light for decent pics, too much fun flying
to put it up before dark!)

2 screen G3X (370's) with the GSU25 AHARS,
Mid-continent SAM, GMC305 autopilot, GTR200, GTN400W and a
GTX23ES. I still have some more tweaking to do, but
everything seems to be functioning correctly. I vectored
myself for an LPV approach, autopilot went from heading to
capturing the lateral course while the vertical leveled off
from a 500 fpm descent to 3000 where it then captured the
glide slope down......pretty freaking sweet!

My upper cowl half is attached to the
firewall using piano hinge and two removable wire pins.
There is a 3 1/2" section of the cowl that is not secured to
the firewall to make space to insert the piano hinge pins.
In flight, that 3 1/2" space gets puckered up pretty
high—maybe by 3/4" or a little more.

•Garmin Vantage consists of a collection of existing
ADS-B solutions designed to exceed the needs of aircraft
owners and operators around the world
•The GDL 84 and GDL 88 ADS-B datalink provide timely and
simple solutions for general aviation aircraft in the U.S.,
which also give pilots the option to display the benefits of
traffic and weather on a mobile device or installed display
in the cockpit
•Helicopter operators are provided a rule compliant ADS-B
Out solution with the GDL 84H or GDL 88H, which feature
state-of-the-art traffic alerting capabilities
•As part of the Garmin Vantage line-up, the GTX 3000 and GDL
88 combine to meet ADS-B requirements for a variety of
business and transport category aircraft ◦This Vantage
solution is currently certified for the Gulfstream 150 and
G200 business jets
•Aircraft owners already equipped with the GTX 330 or GTX 33
in their panel can optionally pursue an Extended Squitter
(ES) upgrade for a simple, straightforward ADS-B Out upgrade
path
•Garmin continues to work on Vantage solutions for
Integrated Flight Decks, which will be made available to
aircraft manufacturers well ahead of the ADS-B deadline
•G3X and G3X Touch systems may take advantage of a Garmin
Vantage solution with the remote-mounted GTX 23 ES
transponder, when paired with an approved WAAS position
source
•Patented AutoSquawk wireless interrogation technology is
exclusive to Garmin Vantage ADS-B solutions and conveniently
synchronizes the squawk code between the transponder and
ADS-B Out solution, eliminating the need to install a
dedicated control panel
•Customers can easily discover which Garmin Vantage solution
best suits their needs by visiting our newly redesigned
website, which features an installation planner ◦The
installation planner concludes by supplying a $200 discount
certificate good toward the purchase of select Garmin
Vantage ADS-B solutions
•Additionally, Garmin plans to conduct a series of online
ADS-B webinars for customers beginning on March 18, 2015 at
7:00 PM CDT

Most importantly, I flew my first Pilots n
Paws flight. I flew from Palatka, FL, to Columbia, SC, to
collect a six year old Boxer that needed to get from the
rescue there that had pulled him from a kill shelter, to the
rescue in Jacksonville that was going to find him a forever
home.

604 sm, 4 hours flight, and one very satisfying day!

Second, today was the first time I ever used
Flight Following. I was a bit nervous about the
communications as I don't speak to controlling bodies much.
And the multiple freq changes caught me off guard a bit. But
it worked great, the controllers were FANTASTIC (I think
they could tell I was a bit nervous
), and I felt a lot better looking at the unique code on the
xponder and the freq on the comm and knowing that there was
someone there immediately if I needed help.

So, kudos to Pilots n Paws for creating an opportunity for
me to contribute, and kudos to those of you that are
involved in ATC for the help you give all pilots.

"We had lunch with Mike, the builder and
pilot, today and chatted with his wife afterwards - both in
good spirits, and Mike did a great job of flying to keep
them alive. He was in a spot over the mountains with very
few options except to get to the flat desert near the
airfield, and when he knew he couldn't make the runway, he
flew the airplane as far into the forced landing as he
could. Lots of sagebrush and soft sand contributed to the
flip - it was probably unavoidabe given a nosedragger and
the location.

The cockpit is full of dirt, but the rollbar saved them. The
fire department got them out by lifting one wing far enough
to get them out the broken canopy. Like most A-model flips I
have seen pictures of, the cabin was very intact and did a
great job of protecting the occupants."

On Saturday 7 March 2015, N367EB, my slow
build RV-8 s/n 83085 took to the air for the first time. It
was nearly five years to the day since I started building it
in the living room and garage. It has an Aerosport IO-320D2A
with a AFP FM-100 fuel injection system, a Catto 2 blade
prop and a complete Dynon Skyview system (10" Skyview, 2
axis A-P, transponder, ICS and Radio). I primed my interior
with a rattle can and used Sika Flex for the canopy. The
aircraft is set up for Day / Night VFR. Unpainted, it
weighed in at 1028 lbs. First flight went well with a few
minor issues; slightly heavy LH wing, minor oil leak. Stall
was at 48 KIAS and max was at 163 KIAS without wheel pants
at 6500 feet. Overall the aircraft is exactly what I
intended it to be, light, efficient, cost effective and
excellent performance. Overall build cost was just over
$45K. I am currently based out of M38 (Hazel Green, AL). I
intend to leave it "natural metal finish", with fiberglass
pieces painted and put US insignia on it from Fly Boy
Accessory's. I have found the VAF forum to be an excellent
source of technical information while building my project.
Any time I had a problem or question (Freakin Canopy!!!!), I
always found enough data or examples of how others have
solved various issues to be able to solve my own problems.
The Search feature is invaluable. Thank You all who have
contributed to this excellent forum, it is a treasure to the
RV builders around the world.
Eric Bale

I am AOG at Bowman Field (Louisville Exec
Aviation) with a flat main tire in my RV-6A. I need a backup
plan in case a tire and or tube is not available on the
field when they get in at 8:00 this morning. If you have a
tire or tube that would fit that I could buy from you in
case one is not available locally, would you please text me
at 205-903-2244? I need to leave this afternoon for Wichita
KS.

Apparently more than one plane had a flat here yesterday,
apparently due to metal left on the runway by the snow
brushing machines.

Saturday I flew N2EP (RV-6A) for the first
time with the new AFS touch screen system, simply awesome.
Sunday was a special day as I took my 16 year old son on his
first ever RV flight. We made the 188 mile hop from KLRO to
KCEU to surprise my daughter at Clemson and take her to
lunch. RV smiles were a plenty as my son enjoyed the flight
and my daughter was elated to see us. As a dad how could I
not be smiling getting to spend quality time with my 16 year
old son and sharing one of my passions with him and topping
that off by seeing my 20 year old daughter who still likes
her daddy time. LIFE IS GOOD!
...

I could use some input from anyone regarding
a nagging issue that may have escalated to a big issue this
past weekend. I've got a purchased-flying RV-6A, 557 TT on
plane and new engine. Built in 2005, sold to second owner
2008, I picked it up in 2012 and I've put close to 200 of
those total hours on it. The second-owner upgraded to a
Tru-Trak but outside of that no electrical changes made. My
only change has been to put in new stick grips with a new
PTT switch which I did about 180 hours ago. The last IFR
certification of the systems was done last year, conditional
inspection is current as of Oct 2014.
...

Bekah and I flew down to Sunriver from Paine
Field Saturday in a convoy of RVs (and one Trinidad). A
truly bonus day in the Pacific North West and we got some
great cockpit video during the 2 hour flight. It is crazy
how lucky we really are to be able to build and fly these
machines. Maximize and change settings to HD.

Mon Mar 9, 2015.
1156ZMorning! No flying this weekend in DFW...wet and low OVC.
But, Tate and I did some brake work on a car, so at least we got our
hands dirty. Hope you had a good weekend also.

I never gave much credence to carb icing on
my Lycoming O-320 knowing that the carb is mounted on the
bottom of the oil pan. I always figured there would be
enough heat from the oil to keep everything nice and warm. I
have to admit I very seldom pull the carb heat control
(maybe a dozen times in 560 hours) so today was no
different. I also did not put much stock in the little heat
muff from Vans thinking it was marginal at best.

On my Continental C-85 in the Cessna 140A, I have actually
seen the outside of the carb completely encased in blue ice
on a humid 70 deg day. There was not a hint of icing inside
the carb though since the engine ran fine. However I always
use carb heat on that engine.

So the weather today was 1200' with 10 miles visibility and
the OAT was 43 deg. These conditions gave me my first real
life, certified run in with carb ice! I had been easing
forward on the throttle to maintain cruise RPM until I
figured out RPMs were dropping without a reduction in
throttle position. Another dead giveaway was the engine was
starting to run rough. I pulled on the carb heat and
instantly the RPMs started to rise by almost 200 revs and
the roughness disappeared. The little heat muff actually
works. I am in the "it can happen" camp now.

(Avery Tools) We've made a special
purchase of 50 brand new U.S. Made pneumatic rivet
squeezers. We have "C" squeezers in both single cylinder and
tandem cylinder models. We have alligator squeezers in
both single cylinder and tandem cylinder models.
All Squeezer Yokes are also on sale. These are all
brand new U.S. Made tools with a regular 1 year warranty.
We even have a few new "blemished" tools that have some
cosmetic blemishes on the body castings - save even more if
you don't mind having a tool with a few surface / cosmetic
imperfections on the outside. All internal parts are the
same quality as the other sale priced tools. Prices
are good till the supply runs out -- no rain-checks - when
they're gone they're gone at these prices!! Visit
www.averytools.com
and click on "Pneumatic Squeezer Sale" for more information.

I also had to make a new offset FAB plate, I
went with the .063 2024-T3. I made some large area washers
to help support the plate better, I had to shape them a tad
to fit. You can see the ring of my "shrinking" airfilter,
there wasn't room for a washer on the one bolt.

I left Baton Rouge on 3/20 for a trip to
Richmond, VA and Brunswick, GA to visit various friends and
relatives. Lots of heavy weather around Richmond and much
too cold for IFR in a 6A, but I was blessed with clear and
cold until I got ready to head home last Sunday. Obviously,
the whole south was IFR and There was no way I would try it
in those conditions, so, I waited until yesterday (3/3) to
depart.
continue

I'm getting close to having it done! It's
still just a temporary plastic panel. If the weather would
clear up I could get it finished. I need to make sure
the compass is going to work in that location.

At NationAir, we’re driven by three goals: provide expert
service from people who truly care about you; serve as your
advocate to find the best insurance coverage for your
aircraft; and pursue innovation to ensure that service and
coverage is unrivaled.

With that in mind, we’re excited to announce that NationAir
has merged with Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

While we’ll have the strength of one of the world’s largest
insurance brokerage and risk management firms behind us,
we’ll still be the same, friendly team you’ve always worked
with. I’ll still be leading this office as sales manager of
NationAir’s light aircraft branch.

When you call our office during business hours, you’ll still
enjoy a real person at the other end of the line, not a
machine. We’ll still work from our St. Louis office with the
industry’s best sales and service team, devoted exclusively
to light aircraft. Your policy will remain the same, and our
devotion to giving you the best possible service, while
getting to know you and your aircraft, will stay the same,
too.

We’ve always prided ourselves on our outstanding
relationships with underwriters. By aligning ourselves with
Arthur J. Gallagher, we’ve strengthened those ties even
further. For you, that means an even greater level of
advocacy and influence in the aviation insurance
marketplace. We’ll be bringing the weight of one of the
world’s largest brokerages to insurance companies when we go
to bat for you.

Arthur J. Gallagher’s core values, with its dedication to
ethics and service, match our own. In fact, they have been
named one of the world’s most ethical companies by an
independent auditor for the last three years. That’s our
kind of partner.

We’re very excited about this new chapter in NationAir’s
growth and are glad to answer any questions you may have.
Feel free to contact your NationAir sales executive or me at
877-475-5860. We appreciate your business and your loyalty,
and look forward to providing you with the same commitment
to service and passion for general aviation.

Was riveting the stringer behind the top
skins on my left wing when I noticed that some of the rivets
had small cracks in the dimples. I suspect I have a bit of
tension in the stringer because of slightly high rivet
holes.

Replace the stringer? Would involve drilling out 33 rivets
on the top skin...
I count 7 dimples with cracks total. I'm thinking oops
rivets?

Here in the low elevations of the North West
we have to travel some to find snow and ice. I have been
enjoying all the great winter pictures from many of you. So
rather than do house work I talked Katie into taking a
flight. A client told us we should drive and hike Mt. Saint
Helens. Well if we had the time (and no airplane) we might
just do that. Here is a pic of the blown away north side of
our volcano.
...

Yesterday, I had an F18 come into KIWA from
CA. He had filed, and was flying the ARLIN STAR. I vectored
him off the arrival and was going to give him direct IWA in
a few minutes (as is normal practice for jets arriving at
IWA). I had issued the pilot a descent and he was descending
to 11,000. A couple of minutes later I noticed the pilot
turned about 45 degrees back to the left and rejoined the
ARLIN STAR. I called him numerous times and called on 243
guard freq with no results. He was now NORDO. I informed PHX
approach and the pilot later established comm with PHX. My
supervisor asked me if I thought the pilot should call on
the telephone back to us. I thought the pilot did exactly
what was expected (even though it was confusing before I
realized he was NORDO) and all was well.

What would you have done? Believe me, not everyone does as
good a job as this pilot when faced with similar situations.
...

Our 9A has about 400 hours on the airframe.
It's usually hangared, but it had been outside with some
snow while waiting for a 500 hour mag inspection/overhaul. I
don't know if I just had missed this before under a smudge
of dirt, or if the temperature changes caused it to advance.
...

My good friends Mark and Al took 25DV out
for a flight, since I'm in Maine and waiting for some good
weather to get her up her. The 12 has been nice and warm in
AL's hanger in PA since I let for Maine. Mark is going to
fly her up and visit for a while. This was a photo from
Mark's Facebook page. There were multiple text messages and
comment through the day regarding N25DV flying.

It was a nice ride. OAT was all right.
People in TX seen worse. Preheat in several sessions. Ignite
the burner, remove a cover and warm yourself in the car.
During the warming make two calls to border patrol on both
sides of the fence. Clear to go
...

To all of my VAF family, and various fellow
flyers lurking here, who have been on this journey with me I
just couldn't wait to post it here.

How do I thank folks like Doug and his family, the Avery's,
Mike Lauritsen, Rosie and Tuppergal and JimmyB and his
bride, and all my RV travel gang, and so so many more that I
can't possibly list you all.

You kept me going in the dark times and the good, and I can
never repay that in full.

I now have a new life, a fresh start with a wonderful lady,
who literally is my life, and has given up so much to care
for me, and to love me, and to follow me down here to
Paradise here in Kiawah Island, SC area.

Started talking about my build over the RV-9
area, but figured it would be better to give updates on the
build over here.

Just completed our first sub assembly, the vertical stab.
We've already prepped all of the internal parts for the HS
and the rudder, so diving into assembling them soon. Should
have them completed within the next week or so.

"Very nice RV8 using Garmin G3X EFIS. Also
of note is that this panel is using Robert Paisley’s EFII
and Buss Manager system as well as Vertical Power. Makes for
a very nice and clean install into a standard non-modified
RV8 panel."

This week we started our first annual on our
RV10. We had inspected the wheels and brakes and decided to
replace the tires and brake pads and service wheel bearings
all in one shot after initial inspection. During the build
we had the RV10 up on the stands numerous times with these
wing jacks with no problems.....Well today we had a problem.
...

Today I became the new 'caretaker' of RV-7A
N715AB. This fine example was skillfully built by Gary
Kremers and his talent and craftsmanship show through in
every detail. I am looking forward to hours and miles of
enjoyment with the help of this forum in operating and
maintaining the 7A.

We got another round Friday (Google Traffic
grab below from Friday - note all the accident symbols).
500 accidents in Dallas alone on Friday (they have 1 snow
plow I think). I don't know how you folks up north do
this for such a large chunk of the year. You're
stronger willed than me!

I started to drive out to the airport Friday
morning before it started, but turned around about halfway.
Good head work.

Unusual for DFW (below). Susie and I
stopped at the middle school football field on the way to
the grocery store to 1) get a picture and 2) explore the ABS
capabilities of the car in the empty parking lot.
That's her about to throw a snowball at me. You'll
have to trust me that there is a football practice field
behind her. School let out at noon. Wild packs
of kids running in/out of the house - wolfing down food and
disappearing as wet blurs. Some I'd never seen before,
and it was wonderful to watch. The dryer ran all day.

My Dad was a machinist at the Owen-Illinois
glass plant in Waco, TX nearly his entire working life.
When he passed away 15 years ago some of his tools became
mine. A few weeks ago I took some time to re-organize
some of the drawers in a small wooden toolbox, and thought
you might enjoy a picture. Tate (14yrs old) was with
me, and I got to explain how and why you use taps, dies,
reamers, micrometers, lathe cutting tools and more. I
got the same speech around his age.

And it begins anew... Here Tate is
tearing down a 1980 Honda Passport scooter using some of my
Dad's tools. He wants it to be red, and that sounds
like a great plan. Many sources for the service manual
(links)
allow him/me to tear it all down, measure what is and is not
within service limits, replace the worn stuff, and put it
all back. Over 60 million built...plenty of cheap
parts out there.

What I like about this last picture is the
mix of old and new, of history and potential. The
non-disposable mindset. A new kid working on an old
scooter swing arm and motor with his grandfather's tools
(who he never got to meet). Next to that a new
replacement rudder skin (mine has a couple of small cracks
after 12 years of flying - older style thinner skin).
And don't forget the can of WD-40!

I told Tate when it's done I'll hand him the
keys on two conditions: 1) he never sells it and 2) he never
sells the tools.

Aero
Sport has been building experimental engines for Van’s
airframes for over a decade. They have a great reputation
for building quality engines and after-market service. Their
master builders have built thousands of engines for Van’s
owners. They remain dedicated to the Van’s airframe
platform, and look at growing your power plant options. Stay
tuned for a pending announcement (before 2015’s Sun N’ Fun).
They welcome you to drop by their booths at Sun N’ Fun, and
Oshkosh to hear about their exciting new engine, and say,
Hi.

Aero Sport Power has been part of the
Progressive Air Group of Companies since its incept in 1997.
We are pleased to welcome Aero Sport Power to our forum and
look forward to the insight gained from building 1000’s of
flying engines.

I'm planning on building an RV-14A. I've taken a test flight
in the RV-14A at the Van's factory and I purchased the sheet
metal kit and toolbox kit while I was there. I'm building
the standard EAA workbench but I've yet to bite the bullet
on the sheet metal tools.

I'm looking to connect with other builders in the Portland
area. Specifically, I'm hoping someone might be generous
enough to invite me to their shop and spend a weekend
morning building one of the practice kits. That way I can
make an informed decision on rivet guns, pneumatic
squeezers, etc., and check out a shop setup.

I'm based out of Twin Oaks (got my PPL there about four
years ago). If anyone is looking to partner on a fresh build
or already in progress RV-14A, I'd be interested in that as
well. I've attended several EAA 105 breakfasts and a handful
of meetings over the past couple years but haven't connected
with too many folks yet.

Build space is my main hurdle. I don't have a garage, but a
nearby neighbor/friend offered me his. (I don't know how
long he would remain my friend after using a rivet gun,
though). There is an industrial district nearby my home that
I'm sure I could find some shop space in. Or if I found a
partner with suitable build space, maybe we could use that.

I spoke with Bob at Twin Oaks and he will let you use a
hangar to build so long as its done in a year (he doesn't
want projects lingering in the hangars for 5-6 years). I
would like to build the wings and possibly parts of the
empennage close to home (even in my living room if needed),
then move to Twin Oaks to do the fuselage, assembly,
finishing, etc.

On the RV-14A, the empennage kit comes with the tail cone.
Can you build the horizontal stabilizer and rudder separate
from the tail cone, and store the tail cone to build later?
(I'm asking due to the above space options).

Can you do most of the wings with a pneumatic squeezer
instead of a loud rivet gun? (Again, just considering due to
space options).

Airliners do it....why not us?
[ed. I'm usually airborne before
the power lever gets all the way in anyway. dr]

Avionics Installation Course

(from Jessica @ Garmin) "I just wanted
to send along some information your readers/visitors of VAF
might find of interest. Jointly, the AEA and Garmin are
offering a new avionics installation course for experimental
aircraft. It will be held at the AEA headquarters in KC
(Lees Summit, MO more specifically) April 29-May 1, 2015.
Below is the URL to sign up, which also includes pricing."

Well I took her up today for three flights
totaling a little under 2 hrs flight time. To recap, this is
a first flight with this new IO-375 engine but the airframe
has about 400 hrs of Subaru time on it, RV7A. So firewall
forward is all new in addition to a major rewiring job, new
panel etc. Running dual Pmags and EICommander. For initial
flights I modified one of the extra timing curves for a max
advance of 26 degrees, pretty much making them into good
magnetos..
In flight I was seeing 28 degrees advance for some reason
but this did not seem to cause any problems at all.

On first attempt to start I flooded it bad and learned that
the old PC680 is not up to the task of turning the engine
over with the spark plugs in.
I put in my back up battery and it seems to be in better
shape, at least I got it started. I will have to get a fresh
battery coming. Both of the batteries I had laying around
have seen lots of duty on the Sube installs.

I did an offset departure as planned, climbing right up into
the down wind to make it much easier to get back to the
runway if needed, wasn't needed.

The only squaks were an Inop. Angle of attack indicator that
was cured once I found that the soldered connection at the
switch had broken off from a little too much abuse and re
positioning. (I love my AOA and don't like being without it)
it is the Advance Avionics Sport model. I am happy to hear
Betty saying" angle angle push push" as I take off and land.

The other one was a too low idle speed. Gave the throttle
stop a half turn in between flights, problem solved.

I am very happy with how well everything is working. I
instrumented to measure differential pressure between the
top of the engine and behind the engine. I use aquarium
stones on the ends of cheap tubing and a 0" -15" water
column Magnehelic pressure gauge. High side centered at the
engine lift thingy, the low side behind the engine in what I
assume is a fairly dead air zone.

At around 160 knots, 4,500', OAT around 50F I always see
more then 10" differential. If I open my EZ cool cowl flaps
it goes up above 13". Very happy with those results. I put
extra effort into sealing up the leaks. I would love to hear
what others have measured!

It has been my experience that radiators, intercoolers, and
oil coolers work well at around 6 or 7 inches differential,
so seeing over 10" and low CHTs during break in has me
smiling.

CHTs are not an issue at all. Cyl 1 293, 2 301, 3 316, 4
310, all in F.
They pretty much kept that spread and did not very much as
long as I kept the mixture full rich. The air dams are still
at full height. Maybe I need to add some aluminum tape also
to even things out. Glad I did not cut them down ahead of
time like I was tempted to do.

The engine was sucking up over 16 GPH at 25 square. Just
following the break in instructions that came with the
engine, which basically amounts to fly it like you stole it!
As I accelerate out on the runway and go to full rich I can
hear the engine note go down a notch and I suspect I will
see even better performance once I can start leaning it a
bit. I am taking off from 4500'. The instructions from
Aerosport and other reading says to leave it full rich as
long as the engine is running clean. It is not missing or
anything but I know I am way rich of best power mixture.

My oil cooler, the legendary 8432R, is really working great.
It is on the firewall with a modified RV10 mount and 4" scat
feeding it, also have cable operated 4" valve. I could close
the valve and watch the oil temps climb up to 220F or so,
then just crack the valve open and pretty much put the oil
temp anywhere I want it. I kept it close to 200F so far.

On the last flight of the day I began to notice some
vibration that I suspected was the pilots side muffler
making contact with the cowl. Clint at Vetterman already
made a change to my Trombone system, but I obviously need a
little more clearance. For now, I ground away the honeycomb
where the contact marks were and laid some reinforcement
glass layers there, giving it a bit more clearance.
Hopefully that will allow more flying and getting the engine
broken in, but I may have to send the header back to Clint
for another modification. Have to check to see if the engine
is settling in the mounts any but it appears that the
spinner is nicely fitting to the cowl like I set it up.

Overall I am a happy camper and certainly look forward to
more flights tomorrow, maybe even get past my 5 hour phase 1
period after a truly major alteration..

Thanks again for all the ideas of things to look for on
first flights. I probably should have checked my idle speed
more carefully on the ground before first flight but it did
not create any problems.

While working on step 2 on page 09-08 I
question how the tip rib assembly fits together the with
bottom skin, front/rear spar assembly. More specifically how
the E-904 flange, counter balance skin and E-00902-1 spar
sandwich. The only way that I can get the parts to fit
together easily is with the E-904 flange between the spar
flange and the counter balance skin (which leaves a small
gap). Am I over-thinking this one or is this how its
supposed to go together?
...

Quick introduction here. My name is John and after many tube
and fabric plane's, I have decided to try something new. I
am in the final stretch of selling my incredible acro sport
II, which was a very tough decision, but I did it. I have
always had a love for the rv's and look forward to a new
adventure.

On my radar is an rv4. I look forward to all the great
information and people here. Until next time keep all your
landings intentional!!! John

The sleet that has hit our area has closed
everything down. We just cant handle the white stuff down
here. But, it did give me some time to work on my flaps.
Here are a couple of pics. When I finish these, Im gonna be
on a break while I save up for that fuselage.

I'm in the process of getting back to my
RV-6A project after 10 years or so of having it mothballed.
There are a few items on the plane that I look at now and
would like to improve how I originally installed them. For
example, the fuel line connection from the firewall to the
filter was originally configured as an aluminum tube.
...

Background: I'm currently in the final
stages of major wing work; basically all I have left are the
ailerons and flaps. Up to this point, I've been using rattle
can primer; I started with Dupli-Color on the empennage and
later switched to Napa 7220 with the wings.

With the fuselage kit on order, I got to thinking about some
long-term decisions, most notably what I wanted to do for
the interior of the plane. I also figured that at some point
I should get comfortable using a spray gun, since it seems
like a skill that may be needed once I get around to doing
fiberglass work. Finally, I'd been intermittently reading
about the products offered by Stewart Systems, and I was
intrigued by the not-so-toxic stuff.
...

I just bled my Matco brake system from the
bottom up with the commonly used HF oiler and some tubing.
Worked very well and was easy to do. Pumped until fluid was
coming out of the reservoir and then repeated on the other
side.

I thought I had a problem because it seemed my brake pedals
were not moving much at all. I called Matco and talked to
tech support. He thought maybe my reservoir wasn't vented so
I removed the inverted check valve I had installed. Same
issue...very stiff brake pedals. I also double checked to
make sure the calipers were not compressed...they were not.
I could spin the tire. Lastly, I verified the shafts were
completely extended on each master cylinder.

Following Matco's suggestion I found someone to sit in the
plane and depress the brake pedals. Sure enough the calipers
compressed as they should. The crazy thing is, the toe of
the brake pedals don't move more than 1/4" for the brakes to
fully apply...is this right??? Seems like a couple inches of
travel would be nominal. Anyone else had this issue on a
brand new set of master cylinders and calipers? Maybe things
loosen up over time or after following the brake "brake-in"
procedure?

Fri Feb 20, 2015.
1256Z Three new advertisers coming onboard today to help
keep air under the VAF virtual wing. Please consider
giving them your business (announcements below). Wishing
you and yours a happy, safe and RV-filled weekend!

Had to hold at Tucson RWY 11L for too long
the other day. Lots of F16's learning to land at high AoA...

Just as I was cleared to go, I scanned the
engine temps and CHT's had spiked at 430. I rolled a bit
down the runway, then aborted and headed for the taxi way.
Stayed with the nose into the wind and it cooled quickly.

Lessons learned: On a stiff crosswind day,
do not hold perpendicular to airflow.

Watch the gauges, not the scenic fighter
jets. Always have a plan for where an aborted takeoff can be
made, considering runway length. (Tucson not an issue) Be
ready to learn a quick lesson on any flight, any day.

Flyboy Accessories is now in full production
of a license-built Doug Bell tailwheel fork. This design is
a drop-in, retrofit replacement for the stock Van’s
tailwheel fork. The Bell fork maximizes obstacle clearance
and improves ground handling.

Interested
in upgrading your Van's tailwheel fork? The Screaming Eagle
fork is available now. The Bell fork is in production, but
has a short waiting list. Sign up here (http://www.flyboyaccessories.com/product-p/1120.htm).
We expect the waiting time for Bell forks to be very brief,
just a few weeks until the next big batch is ready.

We also have a number of other new tailwheel designs, as
well as our original Screaming Eagle tailwheel fork, which
is functionally identical to the Bell fork but with slightly
differing construction.

For smaller aircraft, such as the Sonex, and/or speed freak,
weight-reduction junkies, we have our Screaming Eaglet fork,
a smaller and lighter version of our Screaming Eagle fork
that is designed to pair with a four-inch tailwheel tire
such as the four-inch lightweight tailwheel Tire from DJM
Manufacturing.

If
a pneumatic tire is your thing, you can retrofit your Van's,
Bell, or Screaming Eagle fork with a Matco 6" pneumatic hub,
or go with our brand new, slightly larger Condor fork, which
will accommodate up to a 7.5" diameter pneumatic tire. The
larger 7.5" tire gives a great ride and isn't as prone to
flats (leakage) as the small 6" pneumatic tire. The 7.5"
tire is also available through Matco at this time.

We are currently Beta-testing the 7.5" pneumatic tire Condor
fork to make sure it is ready for the big time. If you are
interested in testing for us, contact us at our website and
let us know.
The Screaming Eaglet (not shown) forks are currently made to
order.

For more on these tailwheel items and our other great Van's
RV products, visit our website at www.flyboyaccessories.com

Earlier this week I flew into Hailey, ID (KSUN)
late one night. It's essentially tucked into a valley with
high mountainous terrain on three sides surrounding it.

While on the visual approach 10 miles out, all three of my
GPSs lost their signal. This includes the 530W, 430W, and
the 696 which is mounted on the panel with velcro.
Surprised...yes. Fortunately we were VFR and landed without
issues.
...

Thu Feb 19, 2015.
1224ZYesterday I took the RV-6 up for a short flight.
Twenty four deer spotted. Came in on initial and broke to
downwind after .3hr. While there, a traffic target appeared on
the EFIS right on top of me. This has happed before when I do a
quick 180* turn, and I expected it go away in a second or two.
It didn’t, so I extended my downwind.

Northeast of the field about a mile I
dipped the wing to pick up my shadow, verifying I was the only
one there, so I turned base. The traffic re-appeared on the
screen right in front of me. ‘00’ on the traffic altitude
difference really gets your attention. I see nothing outside,
and the hair on my neck starts to rise. I can see my shadow as
a single shape, but the EFIS screens are seriously pissed off
and yelling at me.

A quick glance at my 10 o’clock showed blue
sky, so I firewall it that direction without climbing or
descending until I was 500’ or so away from my go-around
decision point. Re-establish on downwind. Nothing on the
runway….nothing in the pattern but me. I come around and land.
EFIS never stopped showing traffic.

Best I can figure is someone was working on
their transponder on the north end of the field, or a plane had
it on.

In the section about the right elevator:
"Dimple skins and stiffeners. The aft three or four holes
for the rivets that attach the E-912 tip should be dimpled
now as well. Once the elevator is joined at the trailing
edge, these holes will be nearly impossible to dimple the
skins because the elevator is so narrow at that location."

Do they mean the holes on the most outer row (that will
attach the fiberglass tip) in between the E-902 spar in the
direction of the counterweight or the other direction where
the E-903 rib gets very narrow?

And I don't find anything about it in the section on the
left elevator. I suppose this need to be done there as well?

Worked on countersinking all the required
spots on all the HS and VS spots earlier this week. After a
lot of studying and practicing the process, I was able to
get the micro stop set up to be the right depth and went to
work.

All of the countersinks came out great... Except one. I
can't tell you what I did, nor can I tell from looking at it
as the impression of the cage didn't move. But, it appears
that I got the countersink to walk somehow, leaving a
perfectly oval hole in an HS-902 spar.

The location of the errant hole is right in the middle of
the spar, in what will be the lower edge.

"UPS finally found the train car which had
my fuselage on it! This is me pushing it in the garage with
the wings temporarily parked outside in the nice weather.
Just finished installing the left aileron tonight. Man this
is fun!"

"Recently, mobile flight planning and
in-cockpit tablet connectivity have been two of the
most-requested SkyView features. Today, we’re excited to
announce that SkyView can now connect to ForeFlight Mobile
via Wi-Fi. This connectivity makes flight planning and
preparation easier and more efficient for those of you who
fly with ForeFlight, and also allows your ForeFlight device
to benefit from SkyView’s GPS position and attitude
indication."

"Picked up the RV this past weekend from
Jonathan McCormick (Plane Schemer) in Gadsden Alabama. I
could not be happier from the work that Jonathan did and his
attention to detail is unlike anything I've ever
experienced. Thanks also to Mo and the team at International
Jets for turning Jonathan's plans into reality!"

"Last week I took delivery of our Advanced
Flight Systems AF-5600T EFIS displays and installed them in
the panel. I cannot believe how crisp and clear the terrain
and mapping is on these displays! The touch screen features
work great, making it really easy to setup the EFIS, Engine,
and Mapping screens the way I want. Configuring all the
inputs and outputs was also pretty straightforward and took
no time at all."

"We
just received another batch of our Low Oil Level Sensors.
This has been a popular choice for RVs and other aircraft.
It will fit right in most O-360 engines and lots of others
too. We also have a shorter model we can offer now for
shallower oil pans. If you want a custom sensor designed for
your aircraft, let us know. See our Low Oil Level Sensor and
more at
www.aircraftextras.com."

Finally arrived. After 15 years of building
the RV6A N3FP with an IO3060M1B and plenty of toys in the
panel, the big day arrived. Everything worked and the event
rated a big smile. As usual, many friends, suppliers and
advisors helped including much advice from the forum.
Couldn't have done without all of you.

Today was a great day. My first flight after
3 years of build my RV-7A. Uneventful flight flew as
advertised. Did one clean stall and aircraft stalled at
50kts indicated at 4500ft which is well below van's
advertised clean stall sped. I suspect my IAS is 7kts too
slow. I have Dynon sky view and was wondering if there is a
airspeed calibration procedure.

After
6 months of work, a new engine mount/gear legs, cowl
modification, transponder, prop overhaul, various electrical
and instrument problems/fixes, and completely re-done wheel
pants....N66GB is flying regularly and 2 weeks ago I flew
down to Bakersfield to the Rocket Shop Café and had lunch
with the builder, Gary. She was built in a hangar right
there on the field in 1984/85 and it was really fun bringing
her back and seeing all the RV history chronicled in the
photos hanging in the café. It was a pleasure to meet John
Harmon, he remembers the plane well.

Next up is a possible prop upgrade and when the funds become
available I will get the paint patched up. But she is
looking good, and flying fast!

One of our flight members was hospitalized.
We wanted to cheer him and his family up by paying them a
visit at the hospital. Our flight lead contacted ATC and got
a clearance to do a fly-by. The hospital is close to the
Daytona
International
Speedway. The news crew covering the Sprint Unlimited
Practice saw us and broadcast it on live TV. You don't see
13 different airplanes in a formation everyday, especial not
on a Friday, the 13th (the 13 airplanes were just that many
showed up and not planned). The rest of the video is what we
do every Friday evening before sunset.

Mon Feb 16,
2015.
1300ZHi! I'm taking Presidents' Day 'off' to hopefully catch
up on some paperwork and accounting - and answer some emails. The factory
is also closed today. See you tomorrow, and hope you got to
sleep in.

Our regularly scheduled maintenance window
will be used to install critical patches to servers on the
network, in order to keep the data safe and improve the
reliability or your hosting services. Readers will
experience intermittent service accessibility during this
window.

Bob Stack flies an RV-4 on my field.
His dad (in the front cockpit below) flew P-47s in WWII, and
is currently enjoying life at age 92. The last time he
was in a Stearman was a short 72 years ago. Gary
Platner (RV-8 co-owner and Stearman owner) gave him a
ride yesterday at our field - that's Gary standing on the
wing. Clayton (RV-8) is helping pull the prop
through before trying to start it. We all enjoyed
seeing Mr. Stack's smiles today, as well as from the the
back of his son's RV-4 weekly. BTW, his son painted
his -4 to look like his dad's WWII P-47.

So I start turning knobs (as I've done for 36 years) and
start with the first knob...I spin it to 7...I grab the
second knob and start spinning it...to 3, 4...then I
SEE 7400, pause...I then grab the last knob, spin it
to 1, then go back to the second knob and spin it to
7.....that could have caused some momentary excitement at LA
Center!!!!!

NEVER CAN I RECALL having been given a 77XX code, let
alone 7701

Sitting on the ramp in the plane, I posed this question to
Victoria (knowing the answer already) and she didn't even
blink; She started on the last knob (since that knob is
closer to her), and using her left hand, she put in 1077
from right to left...good girl!

We took our second trip down to Treasure Cay
Bahamas, had a absolute wonderful time. We did add the 12
inch N numbers this year due to being questioned last year.
We enjoy the slow pace in the islands around Treasure Cay.

On the way home we stopped in Americus Georgia, went to the
civil war museum and the Andersonville POW museum,
absolutely fascinating.

[ed. Bob, I'm
floored with the quality of this post of yours. Thank
you!!!! dr]

Two RV Pilots in the hangar, one muses to
the other, "15 minutes or less can save you up to 15% at
Geico"

"Everybody knows that".

"Oh yeah, well did you know that reading VAF can make your
condition inspection take longer, cost more money, include
lots of mission creep...and be a LOT more fun and
educational?"

So let's see if I can tell the story in 10 "pictures" or
less...

It started out like most condition inspections do...pull
panels, take the airplane apart to the degree necessary to
fully inspect. Get your kids out to help a bit, and learn
about stuff like changing the oil, inspecting mechanical
stuff, and torquing plugs, injectors, etc.
continue

[ed. Vlad, the orientation of the pic you took here is just perfect!
A guy from Russia comes to the USA. Builds a plane. And, while
using it, takes a picture of Lady Liberty facing the bay entrance
where multitudes entered the country. You made my day, Sir! dr]

Flew the Cessna today for the first time
since multi-level spinal fusion surgery nearly four months
ago. No noticeable degradation of skills, but significant
loss of G tolerance in one 2 G pull-up. I'm still not strong
enough to fly solo (endurance wise), and I've got lots of PT
ahead, but I'm no longer completely earthbound. As we were
parking the plane, visiting F-22s and F-16s were landing.

Not planning to get back into the RV-8 till I'm comfortable
in the Cessna.

PS. Five level spinal fusion surgery makes the short list of
most invasive surgeries with longest recovery times.

I just thought I would post an update. I'm
at an interesting spot on the project for me. The reason is
because when I would look at other's builder's logs and see
the same pics that I just posted, I would think to myself,
"Wow! I can't imagine being at that point on my RV!" It
seemed like an insurmountable task to get to this point. And
I'm really not THAT far along, it's just that I can now see
the fuselage taking shape.

As everyone else has already realized, the fuselage really
is the most fun part to build. My next 'goal' is to get the
fuse on the gear. That's where the real fun starts as I can
start adding systems!

Anyway, here's a most recent pic. A lot of you probably
barely remember the day your RV looked like this. Others,
you're probably thinking how awesome it would be to be at
this point! HAHA <g>

"We
are very pleased to announce new G3X Touch software v3.00 is now
available. As usual, the software can be downloaded for free from
our website
here. A complete list of changes is included on our
website and at the bottom of this posting. But here are some
additional details for the key new features of this release."
continue

It's been a while since I had flown the EAA
RV-6A. I've been spending most of my flying time and money
in the Cub (which is a simple life story of it's own) in the
last year or so, but I recently pulled out the RV-6A, and I
was reminded, again, just how good these airplanes really
are.
...

TruTrak Planned Power Outage

"Trutrak will be closed starting at 10am on
Friday, February 6 for electrical service upgrade. We expect
to have our power back on sometime over the weekend so
business hours will resume normally at 8am on Monday,
February 9. Thank you very much for your patience!"
Lucas Massengale
General Manager
Trutrak Flight Systems, Inc.
479-751-0250trutrakap.com

Today is the first step of my dream build
(an -8) journey. Ordering my emp kit today along with the
plans on disk and both practice kits. Now the excitement is
really growing to get started with my build. I still have a
lot to do in the shop to prep, hopefully it will get done
before delivery so I can get to it.
I want to say thanks to everyone here for keeping my dream
alive. It's been 5 yrs. since I began thinking I wanted to
build an RV-8. Now the time has come. My wife and kids are
just as excited, I believe. Could not ask for a better
family for support for my dream. Thank you Family!!

[ed. When
the probable cause report is issued I'll post it here and in the forums in
its entirety - until then it's speculation (#7
here). The video did get me to
revisit the AC link above and training doc below. If the final
report sites wake turbulence as the primary cause, this video will
be the best PSA you could ever use to educate people about it.
]

I started my RV-10 build in 2011 with some
......misguided ideas of the actual amount of work building
an airplane is. The first few months I found myself working
almost 5-6 hours a day with many nights ending past
midnight. I tore through the -10 Tail kit in no time thought
I was going to knock out this airplane in 2-3 years
flat......kinda fully looking back at it.

In the mean time my day job is flying for the Good ol USAF.
Unfortunately where they usually want me to fly generally is
about an 18 hours away or more from where my project sits
idle in my garage. I have been gone 640-ish days since I
started my project, on various deployments and work related
trips. What I have found as the hardest things to is getting
started again when I get home. Trying to get caught up on
the normal grind, helping the wife with the projects and all
the other things that normal people do every day that pilled
up inevitably takes priority. As soon as I am caught up on
normal "life"I start working on the RV and before I know it
I am again overseas.

I completed the tail kit in about 7 months start to finish,
and I have been working on the wings now for about 2
years............ I am still enjoying the build but
can be overwhelming thinking how much is left and how little
progress I have made lately.

I have seriously contemplated the quick build Fuse, but eh
7K seems like a lot of money to pay someone to do what I am
sure I can accomplish, albeit a little faster.

Anyways I am sure there are plenty of you out there who have
similar Life gets in the way experiences.

The bottom line is I am addicted to building, and flying and
I just don't have the time for either right now. Have some
serious "RV envy" of everyone posting those amazing trip
pictures. Maybe the APP store has a good flight simulator I
can use at my desk...

Well that is enough of a rant for the day, hope yall didn't
waste too much time reading it.

No real point to this post just a Rant to fellow minded
people who understand the trials of this enormous project.

I think I'm done with the panel except for a
pesky PWM switch that keeps breaking. All hand cut, painted,
labeled and wired myself. Moving the fuselage to the hanger
this week to meet the rest of the parts for final assembly.
<g>

I just started working on the Rotax motor
installation. Page 46-03 Step 5, "Remove the retaining nut
from the bottom of the rubber insulator several inches aft
and below the mounting bolt location."

Well, not watching what I was doing, I started unscrewing
the nut with an open end wrench. When it came loose the nut
fell and I didn't see it fall. I found the nut wedged down
in a crevasse of the motor casing. I can't find a washer. I
can't say for sure that there was even a washer there. I
searched everywhere .... except behind the fly wheel. Lord
help me if it is hiding there. Does anyone know if I am
looking for something that was not even there?

I received the very sad news that Bob Archer
has passed away this past weekend...I think we all owe him a
"thanks" for what he contributed to Sport Aviation over the
many decades.

Below is a short biography that I understand Bob wrote when
he was feeling better. It's in 2 posts due to length.
My condolences to the family, it's been a pleasure dealing
with Bob over the decades. He was quite a character
and a veritable wealth of knowledge.

Best Regards,
Stein

----------------------------------------------------------------------Bob has been a member of EAA Chapter
96 since 1990 and an EAA member since 1968. In that time he
has served on the chapter’s BOD and has been a resource to
anyone looking for information regarding aircraft antennas.

But let’s get back to a start point. Born in Milwaukee in
1931, Bob lived there until, at the age of 13, his parents
moved to California. He graduated from Redondo Beach Union
High school in 1949. The “Draft” was a pretty sure thing
back then, so these were rough times for young guys. The
Korean War started in 1950 and Bob tried to join the Air
Force. But the Air Force had quotas at the time so he had to
wait. In the mean time he got drafted, took the physical and
was told to wait. The rule was that after a 90-day period if
he was not called he could do as he pleased or wait to be
recalled. He was not called in the 90-day period after the
physical and then immediately enlisted in the Air Force.

In the Air Force, Bob was sent to technician school where he
studied ground-based search radars; then was trained on new
type radar and sent immediately to Korea. Bob got there, but
the radar systems did not. Instead, he was assigned to an
auto-tracking ground based radar north of the 38th parallel.
Here he tracked our inbound bombers and, on dark nights and
in bad weather, vectored them to their targets and told them
when to drop their bombs. Reassigned to the U.S. (in the
winter of 54-55), he was sent to Nevada where, with the
auto-tracking radar, they tracked incoming fighter-bombers
that were practicing toss bombing [“loft” bombing] on the
live A-bomb tests. He witnessed about a dozen tests.
continue

My opinion and worth what you're paying for it: If you
fly down there, don't do it during the Seafood Festival.
Previous posts explained that and the proprietor of Triad
unintentionally talked us out of it when he told us about
the crowds.

DO go down there any other time and try the REAL grouper at
Triad Seafood and bring home a pound or two of Stone Crab
claws. Makes for a great day!

I started to install my engine mount
today. The top two holes lined up well on the QB fuselage.
The two bottom corners are a little off but I can pull on
them and things should work out OK. The two center bottom
holes however, do not line up well at all. One of these
holes hole in the fuse is between 1/3 to 1/2 outside the
diameter of the bolt pass through on the engine mount.
...

Random thoughts and ramblings. I read
the
reviews of the currently available streaming TV options,
and decided to finally buy a $99
Roku 3 last Thursday.
Here's a picture below of me using it to play YouTube videos
of RVs on the living room TV. You can search for them
using the phone or tablet, then tap the 'show on TV' button.
Yes, the blanket is purple and yes it has Disney princesses
on it. It's my daughter's. Her friend made it
for her years ago. You got a problem with that?

Besides watching YouTube clips on the TV,
which is shockingly addictive, the ability to watch
thousands of movies/shows/documentaries for free is
jaw-dropping. An added bonus is we now get NASA TV and
ESPN3. We've been watching movies and shows on NetFlix
for years using our phones ($8/mo) and can now watch it on
the big TV. Sweet.

Of course, I spent huge chunks of Saturday
(while it was raining here) watching music
pieces
dissected in minutia, like the
drum part of 'YYZ'
off Rush's Moving Pictures album with the drum levels
pushed way up in the mix. Jump to the 10min mark if
you want the live performance part. Then
how to play 100 guitar
riffs in 12 minutes. Oh, and
here's 100 bass riffs.
This is sooooo much more entertaining on the big TV.

I can envision not too far off in the future
cutting the cord on cable entirely and going with free
over-the-air local stuff and streaming internet TV.

Lastly,
it floors me how much historical aerospace content there is
on YouTube. For example, this 30 minute long
documentary on the X-15
here. I
watched it Sunday morning on the TV with the headphone jack
plugged into the Roku remote (I wake up a couple hours
before the rest of the family). So much more
satisfying than another soul crushing, I.Q. lowering episode
of East Coast Ice Pawn Swamp Outlaw Boo Boo Choppers.

Then on to about two hours of clips on
NASA's lifting body program (search
results). I'm loving this YouTube on the TV thing.

Tangent. As Super Bowl halftime shows
go ...I don't see anyone topping Prince's 2007 rendition of
Purple Rain, in the rain, with Florida A&M's marching
band (video).
"Can I play this guitar!!!!!!" In my
humble opinion, THAT performance is how you entertain
~100 million people simultaneously. One person on
a stage, playing live...mistakes and all. So good that
you can throw the mic down to the stage and let the crowd
sing instead (2min 58sec mark). Showmanship.

Then the weekend was over....just like that.
Did I even get out of the chair?!?!

Congrats to the Patriots. Basketball
playoff finish with a hockey fight thrown in. Great
game. OK, on to the RV stuff now....